Record sequence checking device for tabulating machines



Dec. 7, 1943. E. J. KEOUGH 2,335,945

RECORD SEQUENCE CHECKING DEVICE FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 15,1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ICL y A f GQLLV.

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4j fZ/b E/CF R21 mf Tcclf 3 2 l J V 3 Hfam McmY UU R6 1634 T H 16M UF6?,cARnFEEn cunchn i 5 47 STOP ATTORNEY E. J. KEOUGH Dec. 7, 1943.

RECORD SEQUENCE CHECKING DEVICE FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April 15,1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY Dec. 7, 1943. E J` KEQUGH 2,335,945

RECORD SEQUENCE CHECKING DEVICE FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed April l5,1940 5 SheeiQS--Sheetl 3 Address f- Cards All X l 3 f I Address l Cardsv I ATTORNEY '61 Z b3 Patented Dec. 7, 1943 RECORD SEQUENCE CHECKINGDEVICE FOR TABULATING MACHINES Edward J. Keough, Stamford, Conn.,assigner to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N Y.,a corporation of New York Application April 15, 1940, Serial No. 329,629

4 Claims.

This invention relates to record card controlled statistical machinesand more particularly to machines used in the preparation of bills. Atype of machine with which the invention is concerned is shown in Patent2,131,919, issued October 4, 1938, to Mills et al. This patent shows aprinting mechanism for preparing a bill upon which a name and addressare printed under control of perforated record cards.

In the perforated card system as used in the preparation of bills, aseparate record card is generally provided for each line of the address;for example, one card is provided with perforations representing thecustomers name, a second card is provided with his street address, and athird card with the town and a fourth card with the state. Beforesending the cards through the machine, these address cards are arranged.in proper order with the card containing the customers name leading.

It may happen that for some reason `or other the address cards maybecome disarranged just prior to their insertion in the tabulatingmachine, so that they are are no longer in proper order and, as aresult, the name and address are not printed in their proper sequence onthe bill, or it may be that one of the cards is removed, in which casethe bill would have an incomplete address, resulting in subsequentconfusion and possible error.

It is, therefore, the purpose of the present invention to provide adevice which may be incorporated in the printing machine itself andwhich will check to determine whether, for any customer, the propernumber of cards is present and that they are in proper order.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention andthe best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a wiring diagram of the circuits provided for the attachmentand showing the relationship thereof with the main machine.

Fig. 2 is a View showing the card feed mechanism through which the cardsare fed.

Fig. 3 is a representation of a group of cards including a set ofaddress cards Whose sequence is to be checked.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the sequence of cards containing two sets ofaddress cards, each set having a different number of individual cardsfor their respective addresses.

Fig. 5 is a chart showing the timing of certain of the contactcontrolling devices.v

Referring to Fig. 3, -there is shown a group of cards, the first fourcards of which are designated Al, A2, A3 and A4, known as "address orheading cards. As indicated by the lettering thereon, each of thesecards represents a separate line of an address and has correspondingperforations (not shown) so that, with the cards arranged in this order,the machine of Patent 2,131,919 (referred to hereinabove) will print theaddress from these cards on four separate lines of a bill as follows:

WESTON DRUG CO. 1400 EAST 102 ST. DUGANSBURGH, NEW YORK If these cardswere out of order or any one of them missing, the printing of theaddress would be correspondingly incorrect.

In order to check these address cards for sequence, they are providedwith special punchings in certain selected columns, for example, columnsdesignated 6l, 62 and 63 in Fig. 3. In column 63 the cards are punchedwith consecutive numbers, that is, the rst card is punched 1, the second2, the third 3 and the last one is puched in the well known X indexpoint position. The column 62 has an X perforation in the first card andthe succeeding cards are punched in order to represent 1, 2 and 3.Column 6| is perforated in the X position in each of the address cards.

Following the address cards, there are generally detail cards from whichother information is obtained and printed, and each of these cards isprovided with an X perforation in column 62. Stated more generally, eachgroup of address cards has an X perforation in column 6| to identily itas an address card. The cards are also serially punched in column 63,with the last card containing an X punching, and the cards are alsoserially punched in the 62nd column with the numbering beginning in thesecond card and the first card containing an X punching in this column.This method of punching the address cards holds for all such groupsregardless of the number of cards therein, for example, in Fig. 4 theupper set of address cards contains but three and it will be seen thatthe same manner of identification is carried out.

Referring now to Fig. 2, which is a counterpart of a section in thesimilarly numbered figure in the patent, 2| represents the hopper inwhich Y the cards are placed and from which they arev fed singly bymeans of a picker 23 to pass the brushes UB and IB in succession. Thepicker is operated by the usual controlling arm 2l and the cards areconveyed past the brushes by rollers 26.' As the cards are fed, circuitsare completed through perforations therein by brushes UB and 1B makingcontact with common contact rollers l1 and 38 respectively. 'I'heoperation of the card feeding mechanism is the ysame as in the patent,and in Fig. 1 only enough of the controlling circuits are shown toindicate how the present invention is applied.

In the lower part of Fig. 1 are shown the control circuits for the usualcard feed clutch magnet I8. The circuits through this magnet are thesame as in the patent, and the parts of the circuit are identified withsimilar reference characters. For the purposes ofv the presentinvention. a pair of relay contacts R23a is introduced in the circuit.These contacts are controlled by a relay magnet R23 which, as will beexplained, is energized upon detection of an error in the sequence ofthe address cards. Opening of contact 23a will cause interruption of thecard feeding in the same manner as though the usual stop key contacts|63 of themachine were manually operated.

To save reference to Patent 2,131,919, a brief explanation is now givenof the well known card feed clutch magnet circuits shown at the bottomof Fig. l. In starting the machine, start key contacts |62 are manuallyclosed and complete a cir--v cuit from line |60, relay magnet R8.contacts CRZI, |02, 54, switch 41, contacts IBS, R220 to line III.Magnet R8 closes its contacts Rib which complete a circuit through thecard feed clutch magnet I6 whereupon the card feed mechanism is releasedfor a cycle of operation. In parallel with magnet I6 is relay magnetMCRI which is accordingly energized concurrently therewith. Cam contactsCFIS close as soon as the card feed mechanism begins to operate and keepthe magnets IE and MCR'I energized for the greater part of the cycle.

The contacts R41) are closed under control of the well known card leversas explained in the patent, so that these contacts are closed as long ascards are present in the feeding mechanism. As a result, upon closure ofrelay contacts Rta there is set up a holding circuit for magnet R6traceable from line ISU, magnet R6, contacts Ria, Rib, 54, switch 41,contacts |63, R23a to line IGI. This circuit is maintained until brokenby either the opening of contacts Rib as a result of exhaustion of thecard supply, opening of contacts 54 as a result of filling of thedischarge hopper, manual opening of contacts |62, or opening of thecontacts R23a.

Before feeding cards through the machine, certain plug connections aremade in addition to the usual print controlling connections. `Thesefurther plug connections are shown in the heavy dotted lines in Fig. 1and are briefly described as follows: The upper brush socket associatedwith the column 6I of the cards is associated through a plug connectionII with a plug socket I2. The plug socket associated with the upperbrush traversing the column 62 of the cardshas a plug connection I3extending to a socket Il and also a second plug connection I5 extendingto a plug socket l1. I,

The intermediate brush IB which' traverses column B2 has a plugconnection I8 extending to a plug socket I9, and the brush IB associatedwith column 63 has a plug connection 20 to a socket 22.

The operation of the machine may best be explained by following throughthe various operations incidental to the feeding of a seri of cards,such as represented in Fig. 4. With the feeding of these cards the onedesignated AI urst traverses the brushes UB. This card contains theperforations X, X, 1 in the 61st, 62nd and 63rd columns respectively. Itmay be noted that perforations in the 63rd column are not semed by thebrushes UB inasmuch as no plug connectionhasbeenmadetothebrushwhichreadsthis column. When the X perforation in column 8| arrivesatthesensingbrushUB,acircuItis completed from the left side of line Illthrough theusualcamcontacts CFIItothecommon contact roller 21, thencethrough the X perforation to the brush UB through plug connectim II,socket I2 to the pairof cam contactscl'l whicharetimedtocloseonlyattheXtIme (see Fig. 5).throughare1aymagnetR2I to ther-ight side of lineIBI.

Magnet R2I closes its contacts R2Ia and R2Ib, the former of whichthereupon set up a holding circuit for. the magnet, through cam contactsCFE which hold the magnet energined for a short interval as indicated inF1a. 5 or until slightly after a pair of cam contacts CFI have closed.When these contacts close, a circuit is completed from line III, throughcam contact CPI, comtacts RZIb (still closed), magnet R22 to line IBI.Magnet R22 closes its contacts R224: to hold the circuit through magnetR22 and contacts CFO. This circuit, as will be observed from anexamination of Fig. 5, is maintained throughout the remainder of thecycle and until iust before the same time in the next cycle.

The magnet R22, when energized, shifts its contacts R221), R22c so thatthe former are closed and the latter opened during the period thatmagnet R22 is energized. The sequence of circuits just traced may bebriefly summarized by the statement that, whenever an X hole is sensedby the upper brush in column BI, indicating the presence of an addressor heading card, magnet R22 is energized and will remain so until afterthe X position of the next following card has been sensed.

A relay magnet R20 is provided with contacts R20a and Rub. This magnetis in series with a pair of cam contacts CFI which are closed while the0, 11 and 12 positions of the card are sensed so that only during suchperiod are the contacts R2la and R2lb clod. Therefore, when the Xposition of card AI is sensed by the upper brushes, contacts R2Ib areclosed and a circuit is traceable from line I, cam contacts CFII, commoncontact roller 31, brush UB in column 62, plug connection I3, socket Il,contacts R2Ib, left-hand or pick-up winding of a double wound relaymagnet 251., wire 2l, upper card lever contacts UCL which are closedwhile the card is passing the brushes UB, to line III.

Magnet 25L closes its contacts 25m which complete a circuit through theright-hand or holding winding of magnet 25L which is traceable from lineIGI, cam contacts CFII, wire 21. contacts 25La, magnet 251|, wire 28 toline IUI. concurrently, a parallel circuit is completed through the holein the X position of column l2 which is traceable from the brush UB,through plug connection I5, -to socket I1, the left-hand winding ofdouble wound relay magnet IIL, wire 2l, contact UCL to line III. MagnetIIL also closes its contact 35La to provide a holding circuit throughcontacts F30 which parallels the holding circuit for magnet 25L. Sinceat this time there are no cards at the intermediate" brushes IB, therelated card lever contacts ICL are not closed. Accordingly, no circuitsare completed through the intermediate set of brushes. After magnet 35Lbecomes energized, a circuit is completed which is traceable as follows:From line i60, wire 32, lamp 29, relay magnet R23. contacts R22b nowclosed, wire 30, contacts 35Rc, contacts 35Lb (now closed), wire 3|, camcontacts CBIl to line l6l. Energization of magnet R23 will close itscontacts R231) to provide a holding circuit for the relay and lamp 29through normally closed key contacts 33. Magnet R23 also opens itscontacts R23a in the card feed clutch magnet circuit so that cardfeeding is interrupted with the'iirst card about to pass the brushes IBand the second card about to pass the brushes UB.

Manual opening of contacts 33 will drop the holding circuit of magnetR23 so that card feeding may now be resumed in the normal manner.

Sequence checking will take place with the resumption of feeding. Thecard A1 perforated X, X, 1 passes the intermediate brushes IB and thesecond card A2, perforated X, 1, 2 passes the upper brushes.

The brush 12B in column 63 upon sensing the 1 perforation in card Alcompletes a circuit fro'm line Sl, usual card lever contacts ICL nowclosed, cam contacts CF'2, contact roller 38, brush IB in column 63,plug connection 20, socket 22, pick-up winding of relay magnet 35B.,wire 34 to line i60. At the same time, the 1 perforation in card A2 issensed in column 62 by the related brush UB, completing a circuitthrough the magnet 35L in the manner already traced so that both magnets35i.. and 3ER are concurrently energized and holding circuitsestablished therefor. At this time, the relay magnet R22 is stillenergized as a result of the previous sensing of the X perforation incolumn 6I of the card AI, but due to the energization of both relaymagnets 35L and 35R no circuit is traceable through their b or ccontacts. It may be pointed out at this time that the b and c contactsof these two magnets are so interconnected that, when either isenergized without accompanying energization of the other, a circuit istraceable through the wire 30 and the contacts R221) if the latter areclosed. When both magnets are energized or when neither is energized,there is no such circuit established.

It may be pointed out at this time that the contacts of magnets 25L and2ER are also interconnected so that, when either magnet is energizedwithout accompanying energization of the other, a circuit will betraceable from line l6l, contacts CBI'I, Wire 3l, contacts 25Lb, forexample (if magnet 25L is energized), contacts 25Rc, wire 40, contactsR220 (if these should be closed), and thence to line |66 as before.There are thus two parallel circuits, one through wire 30 controlled bythe upper pair of magnets 35L and 35R and the second through Wire 40controlled by the lower pair of magnets 25L and 2ER.

The upper pair of magnets is controlled by perforations in the twocolumns 62 and` 63 so that, when a perforation in column 62 of one carddoes not agree with the perforation in column 63 in another card, thecircuit including wire 30 is partially established. The magnets 25L and25R. are controlled by perforations in the same column of the two cards,that is, column 62. If the same perforation does notl'occur in column 62of both cards, the partial circuit infcluding wire 40 is established. Wethus have the possible establishment of a circuit through wire 30 andanother through wire 40 during the sensing of any pair of cards. Whichof these circuits is to control the operation of the machine isdetermined by the relay magnet R22 which, as we have seen, is energizedwhen an address card is being sensed by the upper brushes. Therefore, aslong as the upper brushes continue to sense address cards, the circuitthrough wire 30 Will'be effective and that through 40 will beineffective.

Following the sensing of the 1 perforations in cards AI and A2, the Xperforation sensed by brush 62 of the IB set causes energization ofmagnet 25R and, since there is no circuit to energize magnet 25L at thesame time, the partial circuit through wire 40 is established but. aspointed out, this circuit has no effect since contacts 22o are open atthis time.

As card feeding continues, the X hole in column i 6l of card A2 issensed by brush UB in column 6l and energizes relay R2I which is heldenergized by cam contacts CF5. While magnet R2I is held energized, camcontacts CFB open momentarily to deenergize relay magnet R22 and uponreclosure again energize the magnet through the contact R2Ib, so thatduring the next succeeding cycle when card A2 is passing brushes IB andcard A3 is passing brushes UB, magnet R22 will be in energizedcondition. When the digit 2 positions of both cards A2 and A3 are attheir respective sensing brushes, circuits will be concurrentlycompleted through magnets 35L and 3BR and no circuit will be completedthrough the wire 30. Card feeding therefore continues.

If, let us say, for example this card A3 were not in position followingthe card A2, then at the time the 2 position of card A2 is sensed, onlymagnet 35R will be energized, completing the circuit through Wire 30 toenergize the stop relay magnet R23 and light lamp 29, resulting in thestopping of card feeding. However, with card A3 present in its properposition, card feeding continues uninterruptedly and again, as the Xhole in column 6I of card A3 is sensed, relay R22 is again set up sothat its contacts R22b remain closed during the next cycle when card A3passes brushes IB and card A4 passes brushes UB. During this cycle, the3 in column 62 of card A4 compares with the 3 in column 63 of card A3 sothat card feeding is not interrupted, Again, when the X hole in column6| of card A4 is sensed by brush UB, relay R22 is picked up once moreand eventually card A4 passes brushes IB While the first detail card Dpasses the upper brushes UB and the X hole in column 62 of card Dcompares with the X hole in column 63 of card A4, permitting continuedoperation of the card feed.

At this time, however, as the first detail card DI passes the upperbrushes, there is no X hole in column 6l to pick up relay R22, so thatupon the opening of cam contacts CFB after the X position of the firstdetail card DI has been sensed, relay magnet R22 wil1 remain deenergizedcausing closure of contacts R220 and opening of contacts R221). Thecontrol of the machine is thus shifted from the magnets 35L and 35R tothe lower pair 25L and 25R. As the cards continue to feed, the card DIpasses brushes IB and the card D2 passes the brushes UB. These two cardssimply have X perforations in columns 62. These two columns are plugconnected to control magnets L and 2ER and, since the perforations inthe cards are in agreement, no stopping circuit is completed and cardfeeding continues uninterruptedly. Since card D2 does not have an Xperforation in column 6l, relay R22 remains deenergized while card D2passes brushes IB and card A'I which is the first card of the next groupof' cards passes brushes UB. As these two cards pass their respectivebrushes and as both have an X hole in column 82, a condition ofagreement is indicated and card feeding continues. As card A'i continuesto pass brushes UB, the X perforation in column 8| will now result inthe energization of relay magnet R22 so that the control is thrown backto the upper pair of magnets L and 3BR which will compare the 1perforation in column 83 of card AI with the 1 perforation in column 62of card A'2 and subsequently compare the 2 perforations in cards A2 andA3 and also the X perforations in cards A3 and D'i.

If any one of the address cards were missing or out of position, thecomparison would be detected by the upper or lower pair of magnets, thatis,

for example, if the card A3 were missing, the fact would be noted by theupper pair of magnets 3E, since at such time they are in control while,for example, if card A'i were missing. so that when card D2 passes thebrushes IB card A2 is passing brushes UB, the X hole in column 62 ofcard D2 would not compare with the '1 hole in card A2 in the samecolumn. At this time the magnets 251. and 2BR are in control and acircuit would be completed through the wire 40 to interrupt the cardfeeding operations. Thus, the device will interrupt card feeding whethera card within the group of address cards, the first card or the lastcard are missing, and the detection of the missing cards may take placeas a result of comparing the same column in the two cards under thebrushes or two different columns of the cards under the brushes.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, itwill be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changesin the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operationmay be made by those skilled in the art without Adeparting from thespirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limitedonly as indlcated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a printing machine controlled by record cards fed in succession,feeding means, two sets of sensing brushes for sensing the same cardcolumns, said feeding means advancing the cards past the brushes insuccession with two successive cards being concurrently sensed, each byone of the sets of brushes, each card having columns of designatingpositions, a first pair of relay magnets, a second pair of relaymagnets, circuit connections connecting the first pair of magnets, oneto a brush of the first set of brushes and the other to thecorresponding brush of the second set of brushes for control by thedesignations in the same column of two successive cards, further circuitconnections connecting the second pair of magnets, one to a brush of thefirst set of brushes and the other to a different brush of the secondset of brushes for control by the designation in a designation column ofone card and a different designation column oi' the concurrently sensedsucceeding card, a comparing circuit connection for each pair of magnetspartially established when the related columns do not agree in theirdesignations and means responsive to the sensing of a specialdesignation in one of the cards for selectively completing only one ofsaid comparing circuit connections.

2. In a machine of the class described. a first sensing device, a secondsensing device, each sensing device comprising a pair of individualsensing elements, means for feeding cards past said sensing devices insuccession, one card passing the second device while the succeeding cardis passing the first device, said cards having columns of controldesignations therein, a first comparing means controlled bycorresponding sensing elements of both sensing devices for comparingdesignations sensed in the same selected column of two cardsconcurrently sensed, a second comparing means concurrently controlled bya different sensing element of both sensing devices for comparingdesignations sensed in different selected columns of the two cardsconcurrently sensed, card feed stop control means normally controlled bythe first comparing means, means for sensing a special designation inone of the concurrently sensed cards and means controlled thereby fordisabling the control of the card feed stop control means by the firstcomparing means and rendering the second comparing means effective tocontrol said card feed stop control means.

3. In a machine of the class described, a single sensing brush, a pairof sensing brushes spaced from said single brush, means for feedingrecord cards first past said single brush and later, past said pair ofbrushes whereby the single brush searches a single column of one cardwhile one of the pair of brushes searches the corresponding column ofthe preceding card and the other of the` pair of brushes searches adifferent column on the preceding card, a further brush adjacent to saidsingle brush for sensing a special designation on the cards, a, firstcomparing means jointly controlled by the first named single brush andthe one of said pair of brushes that searches the corresponding column,a second comparing means jointly controlled by said single brush and theother of said pair of brushes, an indicator controllable by both saidcomparing means, and means controlled by said further brush fordetermining which of the two comparing means is to control theindicator.

4. In a printing machine controlled by record cards fed in succession,in which the cards to be fed are arranged in groups, each groupcomprising a plurality of address cards followed by detail cards, eachcard having columns of data designating positions, a pair of columns ineach address card having designations identifying their relativesequence, each detail card having a single like special identifyingdesignation, and each address card also having a single like specialidentifying designation, the combination of feeding mechanism foradvancing the cards one by one through the machine, means for sensingthe cards in succession with two successive cards beingrsensedconcurrently, comparing means controlled by said sensing means, a pairof circuit connections, means controlled by a part of said sensing meansin response tothe special designation in the address cards forselectively connecting said comparing means to cause comparison of thedesignation in one column of an address card with the designation in thesecond column of the following address card, through one of said circuitconnections when two address cards are sensed concurrently, to causecomparison of the designation in one column of an address card with thesingle detail card designation, through the second of said pair ofcircuit connections,l

when an address card is sensed concurrently with a following detailcard, and to cause comparison of the single special designation in twodetail

